Friday February 22, 2008 11:31 am

Trade Deadline Fall-Out

What a week it has been. Obviously, the Cleveland-Chicago-Seattle deal set the NBA ablaze last night. I personally can’t wait for tonight’s Cavaliers game where they currently have six active players. Seven if Anderson Varejao comes back early. Eight if they let me suit up. Either way, LeBron James could easily go for 50 points tonight, so keep an eye on the box score.

Everyone else? There has defintely been some adjustments in certain player value over the past 24 hours. Let’s see who’s stock is up, and who’s may not be as hot as it once was.

Fig Cap: Someone’s getting their headband back!

Winners?

Delonte West, PG/SG, Cleveland Cavaliers
After two somewhat solid seasons in Boston, West was moved to Seattle in the Ray Allen deal only to fall out of favor in the ever-fickle Sonics backcourt. Don’t forget that he is only 21-years old, and will likely go from third-string point man out West to starting point man in Cleveland. He’s two seasons removed from 12 points, five assists and four rebounds a game; not bad by any means. While the Cavaliers offense will continue to run through LeBron James, there’s no doubt that 23 will need some help. West will see an immediate increase in minutes and with dual-guard eligibility in most formats, he should be added in most leagues.

Wally Szczerbiak, SG/SF, Cleveland CavaliersSasha Pavlovic and Daniel Gibson will be spending the foreseeable future in the trainer’s room. Larry Hughes was moved to Chicago. Damon Jones is not going to be getting starters minutes any time soon. This leaves the starting two-guard in Wally World’s lap. The Cavs have longed for a consistent shooting option - that was supposed to be Donyell Marshall’s job. He’s always been an efficient source of percentages, scoring and threes. If he’s somehow available in your league, he shouldn’t be. At least for the next month or so.

Joakim Noah, PF/C, Chicago Bulls
There is some talk that the Bulls will start Tyrus Thomas at the center slot, but until I see it consistently happening, I’m not buying it. He’s too erratic for what the Bulls need down low, and while his hustle stats are nice, I think Noah can get 10 and 10 with two blocks on a nightly basis. Either way, I think both players’ value will increase, its just a matter of who gets more minutes as to who will be more valuable. How about that for a “duh” statement?

Jeff Green, SF/PF, Seattle Supersonics
With Wally Szczerbiak shipped out of town for Donyell Marshall, the only real competition for minutes in Seattle for Jeff Green will be Damien Wilkins - and the two should actually be able to coexist with fellow rookie Kevin Durant. He has shown flashes of brilliance at times this season and there’s no reason why Green should not be able to post double-doubles from here out.

Losers?

Thabo Sefolosha, PG/SG, Chicago Bulls
While Chicago was mighty glad to get rid of Ben Wallace, I’m stumped at why they would want another swingman. Sefolosha has done fairly well over the last month, but the addition of Hughes will not help him out much. Couple that with the returns of Luol Deng and Ben Gordon, and it’s safe to say that Thabo can be shipped to the waiver wire if it hasn’t been done already. (Note: Keep an eye on Thabo long-term as Chicago will be running into some contract issues with the aforementioned)

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C, Cleveland Cavaliers
No, the world is not ending for Big Z. At worst, his stats could end up closer to last season’s than the pace at which he started the season. The addition of Ben Wallace will not take any shots away whatsoever. If anything, he’ll get more as we’ve all seen Big Ben shoot the ball. However, he may be forced to play away from the basket more if facing double-teams, and will get more rest with the addition of two big men - the other being Joe Smith. So, don’t do anything crazy like cutting the big Lithuanian, but don’t be shocked if he has a few 25-minute games between now and the rest of the season.

Larry Hughes, PG/SG, Chicago Bulls
As mentioned in the Thabo Sefolosha segment, I’m just not sure what Chicago will do with Hughes at this point. If anything is for certain, his starters minutes will be drastically reduced given the rest of the backcourt fillers that are in the windy city. Those of you that picked him up recently with his scoring boost may want to find another option for points and steals in the near term.

Ben Gordon/Chris Duhon/Kirk Hinrich, PG/SG, Chicago Bulls
Same goes for these three. Adding another guard to the table will not help the situation. Monitor the rotations going forward, but I wouldn’t go trading for any of these guys any time soon.